SHUBHRADEEP CHAKRAVORTY RETROSPECTIVE / NANDIMUKH SABHAGRIHO, KOLKATA / 13-14TH DEC 2014 / 4 – 9 PM
In a barbaric incident on 27 Feb 2002, coach S6 of Sabermati Express was burnt at Godhra in Gujarat, India. Fifty nine people including several Karsevaks died in that fire. The film is an investigative documentation of the incident. It tries to find out what actually happened at Godhra railway station on that day and how far the allegation of a conspiracy is true.
This film is based on investigative documentation of encounters of Sameer Khan Pathan (22 October, 2002), Sadik Jamal (13 January, 2003), Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh (15 June, 2004) and Sohrabuddin Sheikh (26 November, 2005), in Gujarat. Those killed were said to have been on a mission to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi who had allegedly organised the 2002 genocide of Muslims in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident. Film tries to find out the truth behind the stories propagated by the police and politics of encounters in Gujarat.
Documentary narrates stories of seven former terror accused, set free by various law courts across India. Mukhtar Ahmed, Md. Fassiuddin Ahmed, Umar Farooque, Moutasim Billah, Harith Ansari, Md. Musarrat Hussain ‘Bobby’’ and Shaikh Abdul Kaleem are among thousands of Muslim Youth arrested, falsely accused and then acquitted in terror cases. The film narrates their ordeal and misery, and sheds light on their current fight for survival.
This documentary illustrates the life threatening conditions faced by Indian defence lawyers appearing in terror related cases. In recent years, lawyers Shahid Azmi and Naushad Kashmiji were killed in two separate incidents. Documentary tries to find out whether the Indian establishment were the mastermind behind these killings. It also looks at these killings in the light of several incidents of beating and intimidation of defence lawyers around the country and tries to evaluate the tate of Indian legal system and its systemic incapability to deliver justice to the minorities.
Once known as city of love, Muzaffarnagar is now known for the riots that took place there in September 2013. The film investigates the politics of riots and its socio-political outfall. The film is like the novels of Tolstoy, which are characterized by numerous characters, plots and subplots woven together in a manner that while the main narrative surges forward, the smaller characters keep getting swept aside.
